Coffee Talk with Mark Schultz
10-09-2006
by Brenten Gilbert

Always wearing a big smile on his face, Mark Schultz loves to tell stories and share his life through his music. Listeners have enjoyed his songs and his shows for years now and continues to grow in popularity.

In the shadow of his latest release and headlining tour with Big Daddy Weave, CMCentral's Sr. Editor, brenten gilbert caught up with Mark to talk about his songs, the new album and his recent "announcement." All this and more follows in the transcript from that very conversation.

Enjoy.

How are you doing today?

I'm doing good. I'm actually home for 2-3 days and then back on the tour so it's kind of fun to be back.

That's good. You get to recharge a little bit. Since you always have a smile on your face and everybody says that you're funny and charming, I have to ask. . . Why do you write songs that just bring your audience to tears?

(laughs)

You're such a downer, man!

That is a great question. You know, when I was at a dinner party with my wife, we were sitting next to a guy who kept just looking at me. [It was like] he was trying to figure me out. So finally, he goes, "Can I ask you a question? Are you just sad all of the time?" I said, "What are you talking about?" He said, "I just heard a couple of your songs and they really ripped my heart out." Then he asked my wife, "Is he really hard to live with? Is he sad all of the time?" And she started laughing and said, "Oh my gosh, he's the opposite of that."

But you know what, that is a good question. I don't have any idea. It's not something I do [intentionally]. I don't go out looking to write a song that really [makes people cry]. On this new record, it's "He's Walking Her Home" or "She Was Watching." Let me give you an example. I think the thing that moves me so much about those songs isn't that they're sad but, man, the truth in those songs is overwhelming. For example, "She Was Watching." The whole premise is that this little girl grows up watching her dad. The bridge even says that faith is not taught, it's caught. The idea - and man, it's true- is that kids are watching their parents. At the end of the dad's life, he looks back and sees that his daughter has grown up to be a Godly woman. It's really something special. It's something he looks at and realizes that he's led a successful life. That's just moving, knowing that you've done something right.

Then there's "He's Walking Her Home." To have a love like that - it's a true story from a couple I knew in Nashville. To really get to the end of your life and to say, I promised her dad that I would walk her home. Not only did I do it on that first date, but I was still doing it 80 years later when I was walking her back to her room at the nursing home and when I finally handed her back to God. I made a promise when I married her that I would [walk her home] and I did it. There is something gratifying and true and real and right about that. I think that is what moves me to tears, those kind of things. It's not that I go for the tear jerkers, it's just something that true and real just moves me.

They aren't necessarily sad, just emotional.

Yeah, maybe so.

But it's all good. It seems to work.

That is a good question. People don't know. Doing the DVD with the last project gave people a chance to actually see my personality and not just connect me with a sad song, you know? You get to see the other side of it.

Yeah, that was a pretty cool project for you. So the new album is called Broken and Beautiful.

Yes.

Why don't we talk that a little bit.

Here is the thing I thought was great about the album. We talked about the song "She Was Watching." The tie in with the song "Broken and Beautiful" didn't hit me until a little bit later, but I thought it was cool when, in the second verse, the dad comes home after just being fired. This happens in a lot of these songs, but I just realized that in the midst of that brokenness, he could have chosen to say, "Hey listen, I'm going to be angry because I realize the world revolves around me. If I'm not happy, then I'm going to make myself happy." But instead of choosing that, he chooses to realize that maybe God has something better for him. And that picture of him and his wife dancing, that is beautiful. I love that picture.

Because we are all broken in some way and if we choose to follow God, we can show His beauty.

That is the power of that song. The power of those words. I think it's pretty cool when you see people do the opposite of what you would expect someone to do in certain situations just because they make a choice of who they are going to trust and who they are going to follow. It's been pretty cool for me to see that as I get deeper and deeper into this tour.

You're finding out things about yourself you didn't even know were there.

Yeah man, it's a therapy session

You have a song on there called "40 Days". . . When was the last time you felt that you were spending forty days in the wilderness?

Man, I would say there was a time probably two years ago when I was definitely in the wilderness. Here is what's interesting about that - and it's the reason that I wrote the song. It seems like whenever you feel distanced from God - and you go through periods of your life when you do - but the Bible talks about Jesus being tempted for forty days and Moses out in the desert for 40 years and you can make the assumption that, because God doesn't seem present, He just doesn't care or that He's gone. What I realized in my own life is that when I felt His presence return He wasn't saying, "Hey, I've been gone just for fun." Instead He was telling me, "I needed to prepare you for what is coming next and you just needed to be by yourself, you need to grow." It's part of Christianity, the ebbs and flows. You feel God's presence and then you are away from it. It's just a maturing process. So for me, my faith got a lot deeper because of that time than if I had not experienced it.

I love that song! I think it's smokin'!

(laughs)

But that is just me. I really dig it and my wife loves it. My wife is a resident doctor and she's in her first year of OB. She's delivering babies and she's doing it all the time. Over time, it can just feel so overwhelming and so hard. So she puts this song on in her car and just cranks that thing on her way to work, knowing that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. After this year is over with she's going to have some freedom, but right now she just feels like she's in the middle of it.

Very good. So how is married life treating you?

It is. . . AWFUL!

(laughs)

No. . . Man, it's probably the greatest thing I've ever done. I told my wife the other day. . . We walk around the kitchen sometimes just in boring times, but when I wasn't married, if I was walking around the kitchen, I would just think to myself, "What am I going to eat?" But now that I'm married, I walk around the kitchen and sometimes my wife will be in there and I'll go, "You know what? I'm having a marriage high right now. I just kind of dig being in the same room as you doing nothing. I kind of like it." So, from that standpoint, it's been awesome.

That's sweet. . . and much better than "awful."

It's a million times better than awful.

(laughs)

So you recently came out of the closet so to speak. . .

(laughs)

These are fantastic questions.

. . . with the announcement that you were adopted, which is big news.

Right, right.

So when did you find out that you were adopted?

Oh, probably when I was in the 3rd grade, I guess. I think whoever wrote that bio made it sound like this is news - that I just released this yesterday. But I've known it my whole life. This was just the first time I've ever written a song about it. As a matter of fact, when I was young, my sister used to say things like, "Well, you were adopted." (We are only a year apart and you know how kids try to put the other one down). So I would always say, "Yeah. Mom and Dad got to choose me. They got stuck with you, they didn't have a choice." Those were fun games we used to play. But really, I wanted to write a song that said, "Hey, here is the deal. I have a birth mom who I don't know and she carried me all of those months and delivered me. Then she said, "You know, I maybe can't give you the best life, but I'm going to find a family for you who can." And I got the best parents in the world, so I really wanted to write a song that said, "I'm okay." and "Thank you." Because the choice that she made was a huge thing for me as opposed to what could have happened to me. I'm glad to be here.

Cool. And you just recently were a part of the Angels in Adoption gala.

Yep.

How'd that work out?

It was great.

Did you sing?

Yeah I did. I went up there and sang the adoption song, "Everything to Me." It was at the Ronald Reagan Center and, man, it was cool. They had different people who had played integral parts in adoption and each state congress nominated people from their state to get an award, so it was pretty cool. And I got to hang out with one of the Run DMC guys, who was also performing there which was kind of cool.

You used to listen to Run DMC?

Um. . . I'm trying to figure out when they were big, in the 80s?

Yeah, mid to late 80s.

Yeah, I think I was in junior high or high school.

There you go. Heard it here first. "Mark Schultz listens to Run DMC."

(laughs)

I wouldn't say that they were a favorite or anything, but they were definitely getting airplay when I was younger. . .

You've mentioned that you wouldn't try to find your birth mother, but if you did end up face to face with her, what would you tell her ( other than what you've already said in the song )?

That's a good question, man. I've thought about it before and you know, honestly, I don't have an answer for that. It's not because I would be angry or anything like that, it's more that if I saw her face to face, I would be in shock. I would just think, do I look like her? Like it says in the song, would her eyes be blue or green like mine? Would we know each other just from being next to each other? That would be a shocker. I'm not sure how I would react. I would be grateful, but I've thought about it before. . . As soon as I got some composure, I'm sure I'd say thank you. Other than that, I don't know. It's a great mystery, even to me, so I'm not sure.

It'd be some awkward silence for a little bit. . .

Yeah I think so. "Hi, remember me?" I'm not sure how that would work.

It's a tough thing, kind of like asking what would you say, when you meet somebody in heaven. Would it even matter what you said?

Yeah, you just don't know until you get there. You could probably fake a good answer and make it sound pretty good, but until you get there, you wouldn't know.

Well speaking of adoption, I can't really think about that without considering the picture that Paul paints about how we are adopted by God. Have you thought much about that? Do you run to that part of the scripture sometimes for comfort or. . .?

Yeah, I've even mentioned that in shows before. I've said that I probably have a good understanding of what it means to be adopted. So for me, just to understand that my parents didn't need me, they chose me out of love and then have given me everything. They've loved me like I was one of their own, I am one of their own. You wouldn't know the difference between me and my brother and sister who aren't adopted. I'm just the middle kid. They've supported me and loved me the same way they do their other two kids. It makes it understandable for me that God loves us in such a way that He doesn't need us, but that He would choose us. He chose to love us for no other reason than He wanted to love us. I can get that, you know? I've had that here on earth already so that makes sense to me.

That's a pretty cool picture to think about. . .

It's a great picture. And the idea of "Broken and Beauiful" is also there in the adoption song ("Everything to Me"). A lot of people would think that being adopted comes from a broken home or a broken relationship or broken family or broken promise or whatever. The fact that I was adopted and then got this wonderful family that I got to grow up with and got to be my mom and dad. Again that is beautiful. As we've already touched upon, adoption - as Paul talks about it - is what God does to us. Not because He needs us, but because He wants to love us. I think it's cool and when I start to sense those moments in the record that actually accentuate the title of the album, it's pretty cool.

So to lighten things up cause we are getting a little serious. . . You used to play a lot of sports. . .

Yeah

Do you still follow sports at all?

Yeah I do. It's been a painful year for sports for me. I went to Kansas State University and our football team is a little rough this year and haven't done so well. Then living in Nashville the last 12 years, the Tennessee Titans have been pretty awful this year. And I grew up in Kansas and the Kansas City Royals are the loosingest team in the world right now. So other than that things are going pretty well sportswise.

How about your favorite joke. So that after everybody listens to your album, and they're wiping tears from their eyes, at least they can think about this joke

My favorite joke, man. You know what, I'm probably the world's worst at remembering them. I can hear some that I really like and then I forget them. I can't even think of one right now. I can't think of one. Isn't that weird.

Really? That is weird. Did you not have your coffee yet this morning?

You know what? I have not had my coffee, as a matter of fact. Just thinking about that I got running behind and thinking that I haven't even had my coffee yet. Maybe after I have my coffee, I could have my joke ready.

Is coffee a big part of your energy?

Definitely. As a matter of fact, I'm going to go get some on right now. Especially on tour, man, coffee is what makes the world go round. You've got to start your day with that and then you've got to have two cups before you go on. It's just so funny. When we are on tour, if you lose track of somebody and you can't find the band, you just have to find the nearest Starbucks. The band is just hanging out in there, so that is fun for me. I really enjoy that, it's a good time. I think the other reason it's so fun is that with coffee comes conversation and relationships and that sort of stuff. It's a good way to hang out with people and to bond with them and do that whole thing.

Do you have a typical Starbucks order?

For the longest time it was a skim latte but my guitar player orders something that has like 14 different things in it. All it means is that a cup of it will take a year off of your life.

(laughs)

There is so much stuff in there. So I got pretty simple. I just get a cup of coffee and add a little cream to it. It's kind of boring, but that is okay for me.

It's cheaper than all of the fancy ones.

Yes it is. You can leave there for the cost of a down payment on a home for some of those coffees. Seriously.

So is there anything else you want to tell us? You have a tour coming up with Big Daddy Weave . . .

We are on tour right now as a matter of fact. We've been touring and man, it's great. I've done 4 shows in 3 days. We sold out two shows in Marion, Illinois - where we filmed the DVD - and that just feels like going home to me, but it is an unbelievable tour. Big Daddy Weave are great praise and worship guys and they really set the table well for the show and get everybody involved, so it's a great combination for a tour.

Find out more about the tour, the album and Mark at MarkSchultzMusic.com or MySpace.com/MarkSchultz